{"id":505,"date":"2024-12-22T15:29:55","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T20:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/?page_id=505"},"modified":"2024-12-22T15:29:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T20:29:55","slug":"appendix-museum-society-vol-22-no-2-3-2024-mobilizing-museum-minerals-critical-approaches-to-mineralogical-collections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/appendix-museum-society-vol-22-no-2-3-2024-mobilizing-museum-minerals-critical-approaches-to-mineralogical-collections\/","title":{"rendered":"Appendix: Museum & Society, vol. 22 No. 2-3 (2024): Mobilizing Museum Minerals: Critical Approaches to Mineralogical Collections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Museum & Society, vol. 22 No. 2-3 (2024): Mobilizing Museum Minerals: Critical Approaches to Mineralogical Collections<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloging minerals, part 1: The categories of colonialism and extraction<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selby Hearth, Carrie Robbins <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PDF<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloging minerals, part 2: Re-imagining the catalog as a first step toward confronting extractionist legacies<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carrie Robbins, Selby Hearth <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloging mineral extraction histories: <\/strong> 
Proposing a revised catalogue record for V.4476<\/strong> 
<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I. Naming the Mineral <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: IMA-Approved Mineral Names<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: Azurite on Malachite<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Catalogue Fields Used: Specimen (1925, 1958, 1979); Mineral Name (c. 2000) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Non-IMA-Approved Mineral Names<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) ongopolo <\/em>(Oshindongan) or oshikushu <\/em>(Oshindongan): Copper ores from this site were central to the economy of the Ovambo Kingdom of Ondonga prior to German colonization in the late 1800s (Hearth  2021 reviews early colonial records from this mine at the time of colonial contact). A 2004 Oshindonga\/English Dictionary lists \u2018copper\u2019 as \u2018ongopolo<\/em>, oshikushu\u2019 <\/em>(Viljoen et al. 2004: 71); however, it is unclear which copper species Ndongan coppersmiths used (indeed, it was likely many copper species, possibly including azurite).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) uueendje <\/em>(Oshindongan): An 1891 paper by traveling Swiss botanist Hans Schinz reported that the Ndongan smiths he met called the copper ore they smelted \u201cuueendje<\/em>\u201d (Schinz 1891: 351).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) otjikoporo <\/em>or ongoporo <\/em>(Otjiherero): At the time of German colonization, Herero communities also claimed historical relationships with copper in this area (see summary in Hearth 2021). Schinz (1891: 351) reported that <\/strong>Otjiherero speakers he encountered called copper \u2018otjikoporo<\/em>\u2019 (which he interpreted as being derived from the English word \u2018copper\u2019) or \u2018ongoporo.\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) n\/a (Hai\u01c1om): At the time of colonial contact, copper from this site was central to the economy of Hai\u01c1om San communities in that area (see summary in Hearth 2021). This record has no information about mineral terminologies from the Hai\u01c1om.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

II. Naming the Mine (Locality of Extraction)<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: Ongopolo Mine, Tsumeb, Oshikoto Region, Namibia, Africa, MinDat loc-2428; <\/strong>see also: Otavi Mountains, Otavi District, Otavi Group, Damara Supergroup, German South-West Africa, Deutsch-S\u00fcdwestafrika, South-West Africa, Kingdom of Ondonga (see Hearth 2021, Hearth 2023); Hereroland (see Hearth 2021), Damaraland (see Hearth 2021).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

III. Remembering All that Enabled the Extraction <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Date of Extraction<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong>No information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Names of Guides, Miners, or Labourers<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guide\u2019s name or ethnicity: San Hai\u01c1om guides were instrumental in leading geologists to the copper mines at Tsumeb and Otavi in what is now Namibia (Hearth 2023).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miner\u2019s name or ethnicity: None recorded; however, miners came to work at Tsumeb from the Ovambo Kingdom of Ondonga, Herero, San Hai\u01c1om, and South African communities (Hearth 2021, Hearth 2023). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Labour conditions<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labour conditions: from 1893 to 1996, the Tsumeb Mine was opened by labourers from the Hai\u01c1om and Herero communities, as well as from several of the Kingdoms of the Ovambo (see Hearth 2021 summary). Additionally, people from Cape Colony regularly traveled by ocean steamers to Walvis Bay, then overland via the OMEG railway to Tsumeb, to work as temporary labourers, usually returning home after a fixed term of service. At the time of this sample\u2019s acquisition (1920s), the labourers were working under the \u2018Contract Labour\u2019 system that South Africa put into place when the League of Nations gave them a mandate over the formerly-German colony post World War I (e.g., Cooper 1999; see summary in Hearth 2021). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Occupational health and safety conditions<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No citations recorded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IV. Collecting the Collector<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Collector\u2019s Name<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Vaux Jr. (1863-1927) assigned this specimen the number 4476 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Provenience and Provenance<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provenience is sometimes understood as a synonymous term for provenance, but there are field specific uses that allow for productive distinction. For geologists, provenience refers to whence the sample was collected (Joyce 2012). A provenience history field can thus be used to account for any context about the findspot. Provenance in turn can be used as it is in other cultural collections to account for the history of a mineral specimen\u2019s ownership (Getty AAT, n.d.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provenience<\/strong>: The persons who extracted this specimen from the Tsumeb Mine remain unidentified. They were most likely mine labourers, as that is a common source of specimens in this era (Hearth 2023).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provenance<\/strong>: It is also unknown how the specimen reached a mineral dealer. A later report from mineral collector Samuel Gordon (Gordon 1934) recounted that, upon visiting Tsumeb, he had to negotiate with the mine director for which specimens he would be allowed to buy. It is possible that the mine director controlled the flow of specimens from workers to dealers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vaux recorded what he knew about who had owned T.4476 on the back of the specimen\u2019s tag. According to Vaux\u2019s name-date notation style, \u201cWard 1923\u201d likely means that this specimen was purchased from Ward in 1923, which almost certainly refers to Ward\u2019s Natural Science, a mineral dealership based out of Rochester, New York. It is not recorded when <\/em>the specimen arrived at Ward\u2019s, but founder Henry Augustus Ward died in 1906 (the year that Tsumeb began industrial-scale operations), so it is unlikely that \u2018Ward\u2019 refers to the founder himself. Vaux also includes the notation \u2018Maricher,\u2019 which likely refers to the individual who purchased this specimen from Ward\u2019s in 1923 and from whom Vaux purchased it in October 1925.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Vaux\u2019s death in 1927, the collection passed to his widow and sons. They donated the collection to Bryn Mawr in 1958.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Catalogue Fields Used: Source and Date of Acquisition (1925), none subsequent to 1925 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

V. Environmental Context and Impact<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Ecology<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No citations recorded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Catalogue Fields Used: none <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Environmental and Public Health Impact <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Environmental Justice Atlas records Tsumeb as a site of \u2018Industrial and Utilities conflicts\u2019 due to the lasting environmental and public health impacts of the copper smelter operational at the site from 1961 to present (Mazzuca 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Land Rights and Relationships<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rights to the land and copper in the Otavi region (including Tsumeb) were intensely contested during the early colonial period (1850-1906). Hearth (2021) details the conflict; a summary is presented here. The Hai\u01c1om (whom Europeans called the \u2018Bushmen,\u2019 but constitute a nation within the San ethnic group) mined copper in the area from at least 1850 to at least 1895. They traded it north to the Kingdom of Ondonga, where coppersmiths smelted it, smithed it, and traded it. In 1885, a hunter from the Cape Colony named William Worthington Jordan claimed that King Kambonde kaMpingana of the Ovambo Kingdom of Ondonga had sold him the copper rights and much of the land in the region to found a Boer colony (the Republic of Upingtonia). However, King Kambonde disputed this, and Jordan was eventually murdered by the King\u2019s brother, Nehale. A third community \u2013 the Herero \u2013 also claimed historical relationships with the land and copper in the area, though there are fewer records of this. Germany annexed the area as a protectorate in 1884, though they had almost no control over any of the land. From 1884 to 1892, the German colonial authority continued to claim rights to the copper, in addition to a British trader (Robert Lewis), the Paramount Chief of the Herero (Maharero kaTjamuaha), King Kambonde kaMpingana of the Ovambo Kingdom of Ondonga, the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft f\u00fcr S\u00fcdwest-Afrika (DKGSWA; German Colonial Society for South West Africa), the British-owned Damaraland Company, and the joint-British-German South West Africa Company (SWACO). In 1892, the German Empire declared the Otavi area a \u2018no man\u2019s land,\u2019 meaning they believed that no one had ever lived there and therefore Germany could decide what to do with it. They awarded control of the mineral rights to SWACO, which later assigned the mine to a German-owned subsidiary — Otavi Minen- und Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (OMEG). During World War I, the Union of South Africa (a British dominion) invaded German South-West Africa, and captured the Tsumeb Mine. After the war, the League of Nations made the former German colony into a South African mandate, though they returned Tsumeb to OMEG. During German rearmament in the 1930s, the South African government closed the mine to deny Germany access to its copper. After World War II, the South African government auctioned Tsumeb to a set of American mining companies, including Newmont Mining Corporation and American Metal Climax Inc (AMAX). These became the Tsumeb Corporation Limited. As of 2023, the mine is closed but owned by Ongopolo Mining and Processing Limited (which is in turn owned by British corporation Weatherly International plc). As of 2010, the smelter at Tsumeb is owned by Dundee Precious Metals Inc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataloguer: S. Hearth (10 January 2023) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Catalogue Fields Used: none <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VI. Making Meaning<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Analytical Work\/Bibliography<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong>No citations recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Catalogue Fields Used: none <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Cultural Heritage<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong>No citations recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Catalogue Fields Used: none <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community feedback: None recorded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VII. Humanizing the Catalog<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Related Bibliography<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon, S. (1934) \u2018Mineral collecting in Deepest Africa,\u2019 The Oregon Mineralogist 2 (7): 9-10. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearth, S. (2021) \u2018The \u201cWorld\u2019s Greatest Mineral Locality:\u201d Hai\u01c1om, Ndonga, Herero, and the Early Colonial Histories of Tsumeb, Namibia,\u2019 Earth Sciences History 40 (2) 433-60. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearth, S. (2023) \u2018Geologists as Colonial Scouts: the Rogers Expedition to Otavi and Tsumeb, Namibia, 1892\u20131895,\u2019 Earth Sciences History 42 (2) 1-32. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mazzuca, C.R. (2019) \u2018Namibian Custom Smelter, Tsumeb, Namibia,\u2019 Environmental Justice Atlas: https:\/\/ejatlas.org\/conflict\/tsumeb-smelter<\/a>.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schinz, H. (1891) Deutsch-S\u00fcdwest-Afrika: Forschungsreisen durch die deutschen Schutzgebiete Gross-Nama- und Hereroland, nach dem Kunene, dem Ngami-See und der Kalaxari, 1884\u20131887. Saarbr\u00fccken: Fines Mundi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viljoen, J.J., P. Amakali, and M.J. Namuandi (2004) Oshindonga\/English English\/Oshindonga Embwiitya Dictionary. Location: Gamsberg Macmillan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Field Name: Bibliography Agent Notes<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised Entry for V.4476: <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon, S.: no notes recorded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearth, S.: U.S. Settler. Associate Professor of Geology & Curator of Mineral Collection, Bryn Mawr College. Author of essays on Tsumeb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mazzuca, C.R.: no notes recorded <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schinz, H.: no notes recorded <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viljoen, J.J.: no notes recorded <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Museum & Society, vol. 22 No. 2-3 (2024): Mobilizing Museum Minerals: Critical Approaches to Mineralogical Collections\u00a0 Cataloging minerals, part 1: The categories of colonialism and extraction  Selby Hearth, Carrie Robbins  PDF  Cataloging minerals, part 2: Re-imagining the catalog as a first step toward confronting extractionist legacies  Carrie Robbins, Selby Hearth  Cataloging mineral extraction histories:  Proposing … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Appendix: Museum & Society, vol. 22 No. 2-3 (2024): Mobilizing Museum Minerals: Critical Approaches to Mineralogical Collections”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-505","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":507,"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505\/revisions\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mineralogy.digital.brynmawr.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}